The anecdote you shared occurred under drug prohibition. Will drug legalization lead to world peace and enlightenment? No. That's not the point. Will it lead to some scattered increase in problems that don't exist now? Maybe. Will it reduce profits in the drug trade to the point where drug cartels and gangs that run drugs are not creating a lot of the "crime problem" in the United States? Almost certainly. But that's not the point either.

Drug prohibition is unconstitutional. We had a constitutional amendment for alcohol prohibition. Where's the constitutional amendment for drug prohibition? The legislative branch is not permitted to pass whatever laws they think will be popular, and the executive branch is not permitted to enforce them. That's not rule of law, and it's not how a constitutional republic is supposed to work.

The Legislative and Executive can pass and enforce unconstitutional laws, and they have, but if you want to know why people disrespect the rule of law or why certain social constructs are crumbling, Government not respecting the highest law of the land figures into it somewhere. I would say complexity of the law is another. The idea that you have to go look a substance up on the DEA's website before growing, buying, selling, or ingesting it is... well, I don't have words for it that are appropriate in polite company.

__________________“The egg hatched...” “...the egg hatched... and a hundred baby spiders came out...” (blade runner)
“Who are you?” “A friend. I'm here to prevent you from making a mistake.” “You have no idea what I'm doing here, friend.” “In specific terms, no, but I swore an oath to protect the world...” (continuum)
“It's a goal you won't understand until later. Your job is to make sure he doesn't achieve the goal.” (bsg)